Persian Miniature
A Persian miniature is a richly detailed miniature painting which depicts religious or mythological themes from the region of the Middle East now known as Iran. The art of miniature painting in Persia flourished from the 13th through the 16th centuries, and continues to this day, with several contemporary artists producing notable Persian miniatures. These delicate, lush paintings are typically visually stunning, with a level of detail which can only be achieved with a very fine hand and an extremely small brush.

Persian miniature is a small painting, whether a book illustration or a separate work of art intended to be kept in an album of such works. The techniques are broadly comparable to the Western and Byzantine traditions of miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, which probably had an influence on the origins of the Persian tradition.Although there is an equally well-established Persian tradition of wall painting, the survival rate and state of preservation of miniatures is better, and miniatures are much the best-known form of Persian painting in the West.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
Several features about Persian miniatures stand out. The first is the size and level of detail; many of these paintings are quite small, but they feature rich, complex scenes which can occupy a viewer for hours. Classically, a Persian miniature also features accents in gold and silver leaf, along with a very vivid array of colors. The perspective in a Persian miniature also tends to be very intriguing, with elements overlaid on each other in ways which sometimes feel awkward to people who are accustomed to the look and feel of Western art.Originally, Persian miniatures were commissioned as book illustrations for Persian illuminated manuscripts. Only the wealthiest of patrons could afford these illustrations, with some Persian miniatures taking up to a year to complete. Eventually, people also began collecting these works of art on their own, binding them into separate books. Many of these collections fortunately survive to this day, along with other examples of Persian art such as Iran’s famous pile carpets.

The Persian miniature was probably inspired by Chinese art, given the very Chinese themes which appear in some early examples of Persian miniatures. Many of the mythological creatures depicted in early Persian art, for example, bear a striking resemblance to animals in Chinese myth. Over time, however, Persian artists developed their own style and themes, and the concept of the Persian miniature was picked up by neighboring regions.
Many museums of Asian art have Persian miniatures in their collections, and it is well worth visiting to see examples of this distinctive art form in person. Persian miniatures also merit undivided attention; the longer one looks at a Persian miniature, the more details and themes emerge. The study of a single miniature can take up an entire day, as more and more details unfold, and many museums conveniently have detailed guides to the figures and themes in their Persian miniatures so that visitors can learn more about what they are seeing.Miniature painting became a significant Persian form in the 13th century, and the highest point in the tradition was reached in the 15th and 16th centuries. The tradition continued, under some Western influence. The Persian miniature was the dominant influence on other Islamic miniature traditions, principally the Ottoman miniature in Turkey, and the Mogul miniature in the Indian sub-continent.Though at various stages it has been affected by Chinese and Eastern influences, Persian miniature art has developed its own distinctive features. Iran’s miniature artists are recognizable for their emphasis on natural and realist motifs. Also worth noting is the Persian technique of “layering” perspectives to create a sense of space. For example, in the miniature piece at right, the variety of views is noticeable in the arrangement of objects: birds inhabit both the foreground and background of the piece, with the floral objects positioned in between. This gives the viewer a sense of three-dimensional space and the ability to focus on certain aspects of the piece to the exclusion of others.

Content and form are fundamental elements of Persian miniature painting, and miniature artists are renowned for their modest, subtle use of color. The themes of Persian miniature are mostly related to Persian mythology and poetry. Western artists discovered the Persian miniature around the beginning of the 20th century. Persian miniatures uses pure geometry and a vivid palette. The allure of Persian miniature painting lies in its absorbing complexities and in the surprising way it speaks to large questions about the nature of art and the perception of its masterpieces.
The history of the art of painting in Iran, goes back to the cave age. In the caves of Lorestan province, painted images of animals and hunting scenes have been discovered.Paintings discovered by W. Semner, on the walls of buildings, in Mallyan heights, in Fars, belong to 5,000 years ago.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]Paintings discovered on earthenware in Lorestan, and other archaeological sites, prove that the artists of this region were familiar with the art of painting. Also from the Ashkanid era, few mural paintings, most of them discovered in the northern parts of Forat River, have been uncovered. One of these paintings is a display of a hunting scene. The position of riders and animals, and the style in this work reminds us of the Iranian miniatures. In the paintings of Achaemenid era, profile work was preferred by the artists. The proportion and beauty of colors of this era are remarkable. The colors are shadeless, and have the same tune. In some cases, black stripes limited the colorful surfaces. The paintings of “Torfan”, discovered in the desert of “Gall”, a region situated in the Turkistan province in China, belong to 840 to 860 AD.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
These mural paintings exhibit Iranian scenes and portraits. Images of tree branches also exist in these paintings. The most ancient paintings of the Islamic period, are quite scarce, and were created in the first half of the 13th century.China, perhaps since the 7th century, as an artistic center, has been the most important incentive for the art of painting in Iran. Ever since, a relation has been established between Buddhist Chinese painters and, Iranian artists. From the historic viewpoint, the most important evolution in Iranian art has been the adoption of Chinese designs and coloring that were mixed with the specific conception of Iranian artists. In the first centuries, after the emergence of Islam, Iranian artists began adorning books.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
The preface and the margins of books were adorned. These designs were passed on to the next centuries, together with precise principles and rules, which is known as the “Art of Illumination.”Paintings from the beginning of the Islamic period had the reputation of belonging to Baghdad school.
Miniatures of Baghdad school have totally lost the style and methods of the usual paintings of the pre-Islamic period.
These primitive and innovative paintings do not possess the necessary artistic stress. The miniatures of Baghdad school are not proportional. Portraits show the “Sami” race and light colors are used. Artists of the Baghdad school, after years of stagnancy, were eager to create and innovate. The particular views of this school, is in drawing animals and illustrating stories.

Although the Baghdad school, considering the pre-Islamic art, is to some extent, superficial and primitive, but the art of Iranian miniature, in the same period, was widespread in every region in which, Islam was propagated: Far East, Africa and Europe.
Among illustrated books in the Baghdad style, “Kelileh and Demneh” can be named. Images are painted larger than normal and are not proportional. Only few colors are used in these paintings.
Most of the handwritten books of the 13th century are enriched with images of animals, vegetables, and illustrations from fables and stories.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
An example of the most ancient Iranian miniature is the drawings of a book called “Manafe-alHayvan” (1299 AD). This book describes the characteristics of animals. The natural history is mixed and narrated through the ancient fables in this book.
Diverse subjects of this book, require numerous images that are so important in familiarizing the reader with the Iranian art of painting. Colors are bright and laying step after the old style of the Baghdad school.
After the invasion of Moguls, a new school appeared in Iran. This school was totally under the influence of the Chinese and Mogul style. These paintings are all minute, dry, motionless, and pure, in the Chinese style.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]Mogul emperors, after the invasion of Iran, were impressed by the Iranian art and encouraged the painters, initiating the former kings of Iran. Among the characteristics of the Iranian art which can also be observed in the paintings of Mogul style, we can enumerate, subtleties, decorative compositions, and fine short lines. The style of the Iranian paintings is linear and not dimensional. Artists in this field have demonstrated a particular creativity and genuineness.Artists of the Mogul royal court honored not only the techniques but also Iranian themes. A part of their work consisted of illustrating Iranian literary masterpieces such as “The Shahnameh” of Ferdowsi.
Contrary to Baghdad and Mogul schools, more works remain from Harat school. The founders of the style of painting called the Harat school, were Teimoor’s ancestors, and the school was named after the place in which it was founded.
Art experts believe that during Teimoor’s era, the art of painting in Iran, had reached a climax. During this period, outstanding masters, such as Kamal-ul-Din Behzad, contributed a new touch to the Iranian painting.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
Kamal ud-Din Behzad Herawi, also known as Kamal al-din Bihzad or Kamaleddin Behzad (c. 1450 – c. 1535) was a painter of Persian miniatures and head of the royal ateliers in Herat and Tabriz during the late Timurid and early Safavid periods.
Behzad is the most famous of Persian miniature painters, though he is more accurately understood as the director of a workshop (or kitabkhana) producing manuscript illuminations in a style he conceived. Persian painting of the period frequently uses an arrangement of geometric architectural elements as the structural or compositional context in which the figures are arranged. Behzad is equally skilled with the organic areas of landscape, but where he uses the traditional geometric style Behzad stretches that compositional device in a couple ways. One is that he often uses open, unpatterned empty areas around which action moves. Also he pins his compositions to a mastery at moving the eye of the observer around the picture plane in a quirky organic flow. The gestures of figures and objects are not only uniquely natural, expressive and active, they are arranged to keep moving the eye throughout the picture plane. He uses value (dark-light contrast) more emphatically, and skillfully than other medieval miniaturists. Another quality common to his work is narrative playfulness: the almost hidden eye and partial face of Bahram as he peers out the blinds to watch the frolicing girls in the pool below, the upright goat that looks like a demon along the edge of the horizon in a story about an old woman confronting the sins of Sanjar, the amazing cosmopolitan variety of humans working on the wall in the sample image. This surprising individuality of character and narrative creativity are some qualities that distinguish Bezhad’s works and that match their literary intent. Behzad also uses Sufi symbolism and symbolic colour to convey meaning. He introduced greater naturalism to Persian painting, particularly in the depiction of more individualised figures and the use of realistic gestures and expressions.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Behzad’s most famous works include “The Seduction of Yusuf” from Sa’di’s Bustan of 1488, and paintings from the British Library’s Nizami manuscript of 1494-95 – particularly scenes from Layla and Majnun and the Haft Paykar. The attribution of specific paintings to Behzad himself is often problematic (and, many academics would now argue, unimportant), but the majority of works commonly attributed to him date from 1488 to 1495.
He is also mentioned in Orhan Pamuk’s famous novel “My Name is Red” as one of the greatest Persian miniature painters. In Pamuk’s novel it is said that Kamal al-Din Behzad blinded himself with a needle.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
Behzad was born, lived and worked in Herat (in present day Afghanistan) under the Timurids, and later in Tabriz under the Safavid dynasty. An orphan, he was raised by the prominent painter Mirak Naqqash, and was a protege of Mir Ali Shir Nava’i. His major patrons in Herat were the Timurid sultan Husayn Bayqarah (ruled 1469 – 1506) and other amirs in his circle. After the fall of the Timurids, he was employed by Shah Ismail I Safavi in Tabriz, where, as director of the royal atelier, he had a decisive impact on the development of later Safavid painting. Behzad died in 1535 and his tomb is located in Tabriz, 2-Kamal Tomb. A statue of Behzad is placed in 2-Kamal Tomb.
During the Safavid era, the artistic center was moved to Tabriz. A few artists also settled in Qazvin. However, the Safavid School of painting was established in Isfahan.
The miniature of Iran, in the Isfahan of Safavid era, was detached from the influence of the Chinese out and stepped on a new road. The painters were then more inclined towards naturalism.
Agha Reza Reza-e Abbasi (also Reza Abbasi) (1565 – 1635) was the most renowned Persian miniaturist, painter and calligrapher of the Isfahan School, which flourished during the Safavid period under the patronage of Shah Abbas I.
Reza Abbassi, founded the “Safavid School of painting”. The art of design during the Safavid era was subjected to a brilliant transformation.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
He is considered to be one of the foremost Persian artists of all time. He received his training in the atelier of his father, Ali Asghar, and was received into the workshop of Shah Abbas I at a young age.
At the age of about 38 he received the honorific title of Abbasi from his patron, but soon left the Shah’s employ, apparently seeking greater freedom to associate with simple people. In 1610 he returned to the court and continued in the employ of the Shah until his death. His specialty was the Persian miniature, with a preference for naturalistic subjects often portrayed in an effeminate and impressionistic manner, a style which came to be popular during the late Safavid court.
Many of his works depict handsome youths, often in the role of saqi, or “wine pourer,” who at times are the focus of the admiring gaze of an older man and according to Louis Crompton, a manifestation of the Persian tradition of “appreciating youthful male beauty” (2003, p.171).

Today his works can be found in the museum that bears his name in Tehran, as well as in many of the major museums of the West, such as the Smithsonian, the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Miniatures created under the Safavid School, were not exclusively aimed for adorning and illustrating books. The Safavid style is softer in form than those of the Teimoorian School, specially the Mongolian. Human images and their behavior are not vain and artificial, in the contrary quiet natural, and close to reality.In Safavid paintings, the splendor and the grandeur of this period is the main attraction. The themes of the paintings are about the life in the royal court, the nobles, beautiful palaces, pleasant goodness, scenes of battles and banquets.Humans are drawn in sumptuous garments, handsome faces and elegant statues colors are glowingly bright.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
Artists paid more attention to generalities and, avoided unnecessary details, as used in Harat and Tabriz styles. The smoothness of lines, the quick expression of feelings, and condensing the subjects are the characteristics of the Safavid style of painting. Since the end of the Safavid era, perspective and shading, a result of the European style, appeared in the Iranian paintings.Paintings of the Qajar era, are a combination of the classic European arts and Safavid miniature techniques. In this period, Mohammad Gaffari Kamal-ul-Molk, pushed forward the European classical style of painting in Iran. Under the qajars, a kind of painting known as the “Teahouse” painting found its place. This kind of painting is a new phenomenon in the history of the Iranian art.
The great Iranian master miniaturist, Hossein Behzad the son of pen-holder designer, Mirza Lotfollah Esfahani was born in Tehran in 1894. He was greatly interested in painting in his early childhood, and his father put him under the care of Molla Ali in Madjma-os-Sanayeh, the Art Center to gain miniature painting skills. Behzad once said; an unknown and obscure feeling, pulled me toward painting, and when I took pencil or pen following this feeling, I felt like a thirsty man who reaches a limpid and refreshing spring.
It was not long before his father and his trainer died by the attack of cholera. The hard and tragic period of the life of this sensitive and talented child started since this time.Now Hossein become the apprentice of Hossein Peikar-Negar who once was Molla Ali’s apprentice. Behzad worked for him for twelve years developing his experience while making a living. He finally left Peikar-Negar in the age of 18, and opened a work shop of his own at Haji- Rahim Khan Caraavansarai near Sabzeh Maidan.
At first Behzad followed the style of old masters like Kamaleddin Behzad and Reza Abbassi. His works was so skillfully that one could not tell the difference between his works and the old masters’. He got married to Azizeh Khanam in 1921, who gave birth to their only child, Parviz.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
Behzad left for France in 1934, stayed in Paris for thirteen months during which he surveyed various Eastern and Western painting styles in Louvre, Guimet and Versailles museums. The result of this trip was the invention of a new style in miniature art by Behzad. He states about this travel as;
My talent budded and I become aware of my ability, my fingers attained new sensation and passion.
After his return from Paris, Behzad stopped imitating old masters works, while pursuing the miniature principles.
My study in various Iranian and foreign miniature styles aimed to create a new Iranian style conformed with the modern art. Miniature painting which had been turned to undesirable and unbecoming art, was gradually disappearing and I tried to bring a new style to save it from falling into oblivion.
On the occasion of the Avicenna millenium in 1953, an exhibition of Behzad’s works was held at the Iran Bastan Museum which drew attention of Orientalist guests from 64 countries. Turkish miniaturist and the professor of medicine. Solheil Anvar wrote in an article in Vatan newspaper published in Istanbul as;Behzad, this great artist belongs not only to Iran but also to the world. The French newspapers published many articles in praise of this Iranian artist.The Iran Bastan exhibition was a big start for Behzad to win the fame worldwide. Following it, an exhibition of his works was held in Modern Art Museum in Paris by the French government and several exhibitions in the Library of Congress of the United States was welcomed and praised by Americans.Behzad trained some trainees during his productive artistic life, one of the most famous is engineer Mohammad Naseripour, who was his accompany and now is a miniaturist pursuing Behzad’s style.
Mahmoud Farshchian (born January 24, 1930) is a world renowned master of Persian painting and miniatures. He was born in the city of Isfahan in Iran, a place famed for its art and artists, and it was here where he started to learn art, painting and sculpting.

His masterpieces have been hosted by several museums and exhibitions worldwide. He’s the most prominent modernizer of the field of miniatures, an art form which was first established in Ancient Persia and later spread to China and Turkey and other Middle eastern countries.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Mahmoud Fashchian

History Mahmoud Farshchian was born in the city of Isfahan on January 24, 1930. His father, a rug merchant, was an art aficionado who instilled a love for the arts in his son. Young Mahmoud showed an interest in arts quite early in life and studied under the tutelage of Haji Mirza-Agha Emami and Isa Bahadori for several years. After receiving his diploma from Isfahan’s high school for the fine arts, Farshchian left for Europe, where he studied the works of the great Western masters of Painting. Consequently, he developed an innovative artistic style with universal appeal.
Upon his return to Iran, he began to work at the National Institute of Fine Arts (which later became the Ministry of Art and Culture) and, in time, was appointed director of the Department of National Arts and professor at the university of Tehran’s School of Fine Arts. All the while, word of his exemplary works spread far and wide beyond national borders. He has been exhibited in 57 individual shows and 86 group shows in Iran, Europe, America and Asian countries. His works are represented in several museums and major collections worldwide. He has been awarded more than ten prizes by various art institutes and cultural centers. He has a doctorate (grade 1 in arts) in Iranian painting and Islamic arts from the High Council of Culture and Art.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]“The Museum of Master Mahmoud Farshchian“, is a museum devoted to the works of the master, which has been set up by the Cultural Heritage Foundation in the Sa’dabad Cultural Complex in Tehran, inaugurated in 2001.
The design of the Zarih (the box-like latticed enclosure which is placed on top of the tomb), roof, door and cellar in the shrine of the 8th shiite Imam, Ali ibn Mus’ar-Reza in Mashhad and his membership in the committee supervising the construction of the glorious shrine, is another artistic work of the master.
Master Farshchain currently resides in New Jersey. His son Alimorad Farshchian MD is a doctor of medicine who practices in the state of Florida.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]Farshchian is the founder of his own school in Iranian Painting, which adheres to classical form while making use of new techniques to broaden the scope of Iranian painting. He has brought new life to this art form and has freed it from the symbiotic relationship it has historically had with poetry and literature, to give it an independence it had not previously enjoyed. His powerful and innovative paintings are dynamic, expansive and vibrant canvases with an appealing fusion of the traditional and the modern, which are constitutes of his unique style of painting.
Master Farshchian has played a decisive role in introducing Iranian art to the international art scene. He has been invited to speak and exhibit at numerous universities and art institutes. There have been six books and countless articles published about Farshchian’s works.
Farshchian’s work “Shams and Rumi,” has been inspired by one of Rumi’s poems. Special colors have been used in the painting to feature the mystical and spiritual relationship that existed between Shams and Rumi. The painting took two months to complete in the U.S. and was unveiled at the Farshchian Art and Cultural Complex in Isfahan on August 2, 2007.

Iranian art, as one of the richest world artistic heritage, dates back to thousands years ago portraying natural and historical events from among which the paintings on cave walls could be mentioned. Moreover, the bas-reliefs in Persepolis as well as the matchless tile-work from the Islamic era add to the richness of Iranian art. Art in Iran covers a vast scope of fields an epitome of which is the Iranian carpet enjoying world fame. Below comes an introduction to the unique ones:Persian art and architecture reflects a 5,000-year-old cultural tradition shaped by the diverse cultures that have flourished on the vast Iranian plateau. Throughout its development, Persian artistic achievement has normally been imperial in nature, with impressive majestic monuments or associated with royal patronage in book illustration. Countless painters, weavers, potters, calligraphers, metalworkers, stone masons etc. have produced some of the most beautiful works ever created, and contributed to the Persian artistic heritage that is known throughout the world.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Enamel (Mina Kari)

Decoration and painting on metals are from among the handicrafts Iranians have excelled at. The evidence refers to the fact that enamel has its roots in Iran in distant past and then opened its way to other countries. Enamel is the art of painting on and decoration of the surface of a metal through melting shining metal colors. Nowadays, the metal which is used for enamel is copper but in the past, gold and silver were used as well. In today’s Iran, Isfahan is the center for enamel works and distinguished masters are actively involved in it.Read more

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Painting and Miniature

Oriental historian Basil Gray believes “Iran has offered a particularly unique [sic] art to the world which is excellent in its kind”. Caves in Iran’s Lorestan province exhibit painted imagery of animals and hunting scenes. Some such as those in Fars Province and Sialk are at least 5,000 years old.Painting in Iran is thought to have reached a climax during the Tamerlane era when outstanding masters such as Kamaleddin Behzad gave birth to a new style of painting. Paintings of the Qajar period, are a combination of European influences and Safavid miniature schools of painting such as those introduced by Reza Abbasi. Masters such as Kamal-ol-molk, further pushed forward the European influence in Iran. It was during the Qajar era when “Coffee House painting” emerged. Subjects of this style were often religious in nature depicting scenes from Shia epics and the like.The themes of Persian miniature are mostly related to the Persian mythology and poetry. Western artists discovered the Persian miniature in the beginning of the 20th century. Persian miniatures uses pure geometry and vivid palette. The allure of Persian miniature painting lies in its absorbing complexities and in the surprising way it speaks to large questions about the nature of art and the perception of its masterpieces. The most important function of miniature was illustration. It gave a visual image to the literary plot, making it more enjoyable, and easier to understand. Miniature developed into a marriage of artistic and poetic languages and obtained a deep and sincere accordance with poetry.Read more

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

The Persian Rug (Iranian Rug)

Since the distant past, Iranians have been the pioneers in the art of weaving elegant carpets. Dating back to the 5th-century BC, the peerless Pazyryk Carpet was found in the graveyard belonging to one the kings of the Scythian. The patterns on the carpet are reminiscent of the bas-relief of the Achaemenid dynasty and many researchers believe that the current carpet is the same as the ones in the Achaemenid palace, weaving-style wise. What makes Iranian carpet distinct from the others is the elegancy in weaving, variety in drawing and pattern, and natural dying.
The Persian Carpet(Rug) is an essential part of Persian art and culture. Carpet-weaving is undoubtedly one of the most distinguished manifestations of Persian culture and art, and dates back to the Ancient Persia (c.500 BC). The art of carpet weaving in Iran has its roots in the culture and customs of its people and their instinctive feelings. Weavers mix elegant patterns with a myriad of colors. The Iranian carpet is similar to the Persian garden: full of florae, birds, and beasts.The colors are usually made from wild flowers, and are rich in colors such as burgundy, navy blue, and accents of ivory. The proto-fabric is often washed in tea to soften the texture, giving it a unique quality. Depending on where the rug is made, patterns and designs vary. And some rugs, such as Gabbeh, and Gelim have a variations in their textures and number of knots as well.The exceptional craftsmanship in weaving these carpets and silken textile thus caught the attention of the likes of Xuanzang, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, and Jean Chardin.In the words of Arthur Pope: “All around the world, Iranian carpets are the symbol of poetical luxury.”Read more

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Pottery and Ceramics

Pottery is one of the most ancient types of Iranian art and after paintings in caves, it is the oldest type of human art. In Iran, the excavations in a place called “Ganj Darreh”, i.e. Treasure Valley, in Kermanshah province, has reached to the oldest pottery dating back to 8000 BC.
Pottery stands witness to the civilization process and each nation has had specific patterns, signs, symbols, and decorations for their pottery. During the year 5000 BC, geometric patterns appeared on the pottery and after that the potter’s wheel gave way to creating more stylish ones and thanks to the furnaces, more colors were given to them. The first type of glazed pottery was made during the Elamites discovered from the excavations in Tchogha Zanbil. Pottery has undergone a lot of changes and during different ages, various colors and patterns have been applied to it. Museums are replete with unique samples from pre- and Islamic era.Iranian Pottery production presents a continuous history from the beginning of the Iranian history until the present day.Prominent archeologist Roman Ghirshman believes “the taste and talent of this people [Iranians] can be seen through the designs of their earthen wares”.Of the thousands of archeological sites and historic ruins of Iran, almost every single one can be found to have been filled, at some point, with earthenware of exceptional quality. Thousands of unique vessels alone were found in Sialk and Jiroft sites.The occupation of the potter (“kuzeh gar”) has a special place in Persian literature.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Calligraphy of Iran

Says writer Will Durant: “Ancient Iranians with an alphabet of 36 letters, used skins and pen to write, Instead of ear-then tablets”. Such was the creativity spent on the art of writing. The significance of the art of calligraphy in works of pottery, metallic vessels, and historic buildings is such that they are deemed lacking without the adorning decorative calligraphy. It is believed to be one of the most eye catching and fascinating manifestations of Persian culture.Illuminations, and especially the Holy Quran and works such as the Shahnameh, Divan Hafez, Golestan, Bostan et al are recognized as highly invaluable because of their delicate calligraphy alone. Vast quantities of these are scattered and preserved in museums and private collections worldwide, such as the Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg and Washington’s Freer Gallery of Art among many others. Shekasteh, Nasta’liq, Naskh and Mohaqqaq are some of the styles of Persian Calligraphy.Read more

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Tile work

The Tile work is a unique feature of the blue mosques of Isfahan. In the old days, Kashan(kash + an which literally means “land of tiles”) and Tabriz were the two famous centers of Iranian mosaic and tile industry.Read more

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Architecture

The architecture of Iran is one with an exceedingly ancient tradition and heritage. As Arthur Pope put it, “the meaningful Impact of Persian architecture is versatile. Not overwhelming but dignified, magnificent and impressive”.
The main building types of classical Iranian architecture are the mosque and the palace. The architecture makes use of abundant symbolic geometry, using pure forms such as the circle and square. Plans are based on often symmetrical layouts featuring rectangular courtyards and halls. The post-Islamic architecture of Iran draws ideas from its pre-Islamic predecessor, and has geometrical and repetitive forms, as well as surfaces that are richly decorated with glazed tiles, carved stucco, patterned brickwork, floral motifs, and calligraphy.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Metalworks (Qalam-zani)

Metalwork has been used for millennia. It may be utilized for ornamental, domestic or practical purposes. In ancient times primarily copper and bronze were used. The royalty and very rich used gold and silver. Most common modern items are tea sets, bowls, trays, vases, and jewelry.
Metal engraving is the art of creating engravings on metal objects with special styluses and the hitting of hammers. The objects used for such a purpose were mostly gold and silver but, nowadays, copper and brass are used instead. The art roots in pre-Achaemenid era and during the first millennium BC, metal engraving was of great importance. Nowadays, invaluable engraving works such as the Golden Goblets of Marlik. Matchless works belonging to Achaemenid and Sasanid era have been excavated as well. The unique features of engraving works in form of reliefs on gold and silver of the Sasanid era are the winged animals, head of lion and dragon, different types of flowers and birds, the dancers, music instruments, and fighting and hunting ceremonies. During the next eras, no significant change was seen in the relief types and the patterns are mainly in form of the arabesque, flowers, birds, animals, Isfahan, etc.; however, in the Islamic era the cuneiform was replaced by Islamic scripts and calligraphy. Isfahan has always been the center for metal engraving art.Read more

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Relief and sculpture

Relief carving has a history dating back thousands of years. Elamite relief are still to be found in Iran with Persepolis being a mecca of relief creations of antiquity.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Khatam-kari (Inlay)

Inlay is the art of decorating the surface of wood with small pieces of metal and bone which are put together in triangular patterns creating well-formed geometric decorations. There is not much evidence from the past on the origin of the inlay works as the main constituents of them are glue and wood which disappear by time. However, in some holy shrines, where the inlay works are well protected, samples are seen which date back to 200 or 300 years ago and Iran is now the center for inlay works across the globe. Although India, Syria, Iraq, and Palestine have masters in doing inlay works, they are not as elegant as the works in Iran are, in other words, the art is Iran specific.
From among the eminent inlay works, the gateway to Charbagh Soltani School in art market, of the Safavid era, and the shrine of Sheikh Safieddin in Ardabil are of notice.Inlay is the art of decorating the surface of wood with small pieces of metal and bone which are put together in triangular patterns creating well-formed geometric decorations. There is not much evidence from the past on the origin of the inlay works as the main constituents of them are glue and wood which disappear by time. However, in some holy shrines, where the inlay works are well protected, samples are seen which date back to 200 or 300 years ago and Iran is now the center for inlay works across the globe. Although India, Syria, Iraq, and Palestine have masters in doing inlay works, they are not as elegant as the works in Iran are, in other words, the art is Iran specific.
From among the eminent inlay works, the gateway to Charbagh Soltani School in art market, of the Safavid era, and the shrine of Sheikh Safieddin in Ardabil are of notice.Delicate and meticulous parquetry, produced since the Safavid period: at this time, khatam was so popular in the court that princes learned this technique at the same level of music or painting. In the 18th and 19th centuries, katahm declined, before being stimulated under the Reign of Reza Shah, with the creation of craft schools in Tehran, Isfahan, and Chiraz. “Khatam” means “incrustation”, and “Khatam-kari”, “incrustation work”. This craft consists in the production of incrustation patterns (generally star shaped), with thin sticks of wood (ebony, teak, ziziphus, orange, rose),brass (for golden parts), camel bones (white parts). Ivory, gold or silver can also be used for collection objects. Sticks are assembled in triangular beams, themselves assembled and glued in a strict order to create a 70cm diameter cylinder, which section is the main motif: a six-branch star included in a hexagon. These cylinders are cut into shorter cylinders, and then compressed and dried between two wooden plates, before being cut for the last time, in 1mm wide trenches. So this section is ready to be plated and glued on the object to be decorated, before lacquer finishing. The trenches can also be heated to be soften to follow curves of a rounded object. Many objects can be so decorated, such as: boxes, chessboards, cadres, pipes, desks or some musical instruments. Katham can be used on Persian miniature, realizing true work of art.Coming from techniques imported from China and improved by Persian know-how, this craft existed for more than 700 years and is still perennial in Isfahan and Shiraz.Read more

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Music of Iran

The music of Iran has thousands of years of history dating back to the Neolithic age as attested by the archeological evidence chiefly in Elam, one of the earliest world civilizations in the south western Iran. During the course of Iran’s recorded history, a unique distinctive music developed accompanied by numerous musical instruments, several of which came to be the first prototypes of some modern musical instruments of today.
Persian traditional music in its contemporary form has its inception in the Naseri era, who ordered the opening of a “House of Crafts”, where all master craftsmen would gather for designing instruments and practicing their art. Persian Symphonic Music has a long history. In fact Opera originated from Persia much before its emergence in Europe. Iranians traditionally performed Tazeeieh, which in many respects resembles the European Opera.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Cinema of Iran

The cinema of Iran (or Persian cinema) is a flourishing film industry with a long history. Many popular commercial films are made in Iran, and Iranian art films have won many international film awards, and festivals of Iranian films are held annually around the globe. Along with China, Iran has been lauded as one of the best exporters of cinema in the 1990s.
Many critics now rank Iran as the world’s most important national cinema artistically, with a significance that invites comparison to Italian Neorealism and similar movements in past decades.

World-renowned German filmmaker, Werner Herzog, along with many film critics from around the world, has praised Iranian cinema as one of the world’s most important artistic cinemas.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Literature of Iran

Persian literature is by far the most stalwart expression of the Iranian genius. While there are interesting works in prose, it is poetry where the Iranian literature shines at its most. Flourishing over a period of more than a millennium, it was esteemed and imitated well beyond the confines of the Iranian homeland. The literature of Turkey and India developed under its influence. Persian poets such as Sa’di, Hafiz, Rumi and Omar Khayyam are well known in the world and have influenced the literature of many countries.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Marquetry
One of the most intricate styles of woodwork is a form of marquetry (moarraq) called khatam. A Persian style of marquetry slowly developed through the centuries and by the 17th-century khatam was so prestigious that several Safavid princes learned the technique.
Several different woods, including betel, walnut, cypress and pine are g used, with the inlaid pieces made from animal bones, shells, ivory, bronze, silver and gold. The final product is coated with varnish. Genuine Persian khatam contains no paint; the colours come from the inlaid pieces. Khatam can be used for furniture but visitors usually buy it in the form of ornamental boxes or picture frames.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Lacquer WORK
Some consider this the most interesting of Iran’s decorative arts. It can be Ft’ aced back to early Islamic times as an independent art form, decorating ‘smaller private objects. Wooden or papier-mâché objects are painted then a transparent sandarac-based varnish is applied in successive layers, from ‘three to more than 20 coats. The result gives an impression of depth and provides great durability. Common designs are the popular Persian motif of the nightingale and the rose, flowers, hunting scenes, battles or classic love stories. Pen boxes are the most common form of lacquer work.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Glassware
Small, translucent glass vessels dating back to the 2nd millennium BC have been found at Choqa Zanbil . During the Sassanian era, there was major trade in Persian glassware with objects appearing as far afield as Japan. By early Islamic times, two principle techniques were used: mould-blown to produce thicker items, and free-blown for more delicate articles. Glassware was usually green, lapis lazuli, light blue or clear with a tinge of yellow, and decorations were cut into the glass. The art reached Its peak during the Seljuk era when the manufacture of enamelled and gilded glassware flourished. With the Mongol invasion, Iranian masters moved west to Syria and Egypt and under Safavid rule Shiraz became the most important center. Rose-water sprinklers, long-necked wine bot-P ties, flower vases and bowls were popular. By the reign of Karim Khan ,Zand, the famous wine from Shiraz was exported in locally crafted jugs ‘and bottles. Typical decorations now include gilded or enamelled floral patterns, sun and lion emblems, or glass strings wound around a tall necked vessel.

Khatam(Persian: خاتم‎) is a Persian version of marquetry, art forms made by decorating the surface of wooden articles with delicate pieces of wood, bone and metal precisely-cut geometrical shapes. Khatam is also the capital of Khatam County in Iran. Khatam kari (Persian: خاتم‌کاری‎) is the art of crafting a Khatam. Common materials used in the construction of inlaid articles are gold, silver, brass, aluminum and twisted wire. Artworks with smaller inlaid pieces are generally more highly valued.

Designing of inlaid articles is a highly elaborate process. In each cubic centimeter of inlaid work, up to approximately 250 pieces of metal, bone, ivory and wood are laid side by side. Inlaid articles in the Safavid dynasty took on a special significance as artists created their precious artworks. These works include; doors and windows, mirror frames, Quran boxes, inlaid boxes, pen and penholders, lanterns and inlaid ornamented shrines.

The steps of making Khatam: First different kind of wood in different colors are provided and then with the relevant tools they are cut each horing 30 cm length and 1-5.2 mm diameter and some triangles are prepared from them, which after filing, all the lateral are made according to the plan and as desirable and in order to finish the plan,there is a need for metal wires which some steps are taken to prepare them. Then to make Khatam the head-artisian draws the drawings of different figures which are to be made in order to make Khatam and these wooden triangles or metal ones are put beside each other by the hands of skillful artist and glued to each other and made firm with the use of strings of which made called paddle( expression) After some hours the strings are filed and four paddles which hare been made are put beside each other and then are glued to each other again resulting in something called “toglo” the next steps which is popular as making flowers is initiated. In this step, 6 wires are glued around each corner by a round metal wire which is made in six lateral figure and called shamse, and then the resulting structure is firmed by strings which a star-like plan is obtained, these plans are so repeated that the required general plan is made and put under pressure of press machine and Khatam is made after some steps of cutting and gluing the very delicate layers to each other that all of these steps from the beginning up to the end consists of 400 operational steps. The Khaatam are glued based on the plan, color, shape, dimensions and the place of application and by making different plans and making similar figures or symmetrical shapes, all the plan surface is adorned by signets which is then prepared by performing some repairs, filing, brushing and under cuttings and finally grinding and straightening of Khatam surface, and then oiling and polishing by some special materials such as sealer and polisher. The quality of a Khatam depends on its fine drawing and regularity of the plan, all of which are summarized in the skills of head artisian.

The ornamentation of the doors of holy places predominantly consists of inlaid motifs. Samples of these can be observed in the cities of Mahshad, Qom, Shiraz and Rey. In the Safavid era, the art of marquetry flourished in the southern cities of Iran, especially in Isfahan, Shiraz and Kerman. An inlaid desk, which is one of the definitive masterpieces of this art, was awarded the first prize and a gold medal in an art exposition in Brussels recently[citation needed]. This desk is now preserved in the National Museum in Washington[citation needed]. Also in some of the Majestic places and homes, doors and various items have been inlaid. The inlaid-ornamented rooms at Saadabad Palace and Marble Palace in Tehran are among masterpieces of this art.

Currently this art is being practiced in Isfahan, Shiraz and Tehran. Inlay masters, preserving the nobility of their art, have brought forth great innovations in this fine art. Woodcarving is one of the other outstanding Iranian arts. Designing has a special role in this skill. In wood-carving, magnificent patterns inlaid in wood, ivory or bone, with simple or protruded shapes are created.
One of the top masters in this art is Mohammad Bagher Hakim-Elahi (محمد باقر حكيم الهي). He learned the art of Khatam in his youth in Shiraz, Iran, from Master Sanee-Khatam, and thought it to his youngest brother, Asad-ol-lah Hakim-Elahi (اسد الله حكيم الهي). In early 1950s, Mr. Hakim-Elahi migrated to Tehran, where he lived until the end of his life in March 2012. During his life he created numerous Khatan art work, ranging from small frames, and jewelry boxes, to large items such as coffee tables, and large chandeliers, some of which are currently in Museums in Iran, but most are in private collection all around the world.
Important wood carving of Iran can be found in mosques, palaces and ancient buildings. Some of the Iranian inlaid works are preserved in museums inside or outside Iran . The usual images are rose leaves and drawings of birds and animals. Latticed woodwork is another art, which is made by hand. Old latticed doors and windows of Iran are famous. Among other artworks sudorific inlaid work can be mentioned. In this kind of inlaid work, the artist strictly avoids protrusions on the surface of the wood. The images cut out of natural wood in various colors are finely inlaid in the wooden outline. After the application of a fine finish, an even surface is portrayed, which tend to produce an interesting image of trees, flowers and animals. The art of inlaid and sudorific woodwork is supported by the workshops of the Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran. These arts are also practiced in private workshops.

Engraving (Qalam-Zani)
It’s one of the traditional handicrafts of Iran that its origin goes back to the Sogians period that lived in Caucasus around 5000 to 7000 years ago and had Aryan origins. Engraving is done on different metals such as copper,brass,silver, gold and also some alloys. To engrave, first the back side of the work is covered by tar so as to prevent the work from causing a lot of noise, as well as getting punctured as a result of the hammering.

The artistic works of this course made by the artists, are the glorious and undeniable indications of previous metal works of Iran and Isfahan, in particular. The historical discoveries belonging to the ancient times as the Sassanide (700 AD), the Seljuk (1000 AD) and the Safavid (1600 AD) dynasties indicate a few of the outstanding metalwork periods.

Engraving with various plans and methods have been led to the highest amount of engraving production whose current methods include:
1 – Outstanding work:
In this work, the job is performed on both sides of the metal making the out stood part on the metal sheet of high appreciation.
2 – Half outstanding or relief work:
In this method, the background is hammered down by an engraving steel tool and therefore, the plan on the metal looks outstanding by some extent.
3 – Special picture:
In this method, only the lines of the circumference of the design are engraved making tiny and multi-designed background without any outstanding part.
4 – Engraving through metal removing:
In this method, some parts of the metal is removed by steel tools depressing the metal. In special cases, (if copper has been covered by tin), the red color shine and gloss of copper can be observed beside the silver color of tin. This method is considered to be the oldest among all the methods of engraving being performed in a similar course known as carving without hammer.
5 – Latticing:
By removing some whole parts of the metal, a netted shape will be created which is performed by cutting tools and hammer creating a job like latticing with hack saw.
6 – Kuftegary or gold blocking:
This is an excellent pattern of engraving along which the circumference lines of the plan are carved placing new soft metals in their grooves. This method is mostly performed on steel.
The introductory periods are all similar in the steps above. First selecting the metal. Then tar covering of behind the metal to absorb the shocks of the hammer. After that it is the time to make designations on the material. And at last, engraving with different sorts of tool whose result will be decorating the metal with geometric and miniature designs which will be created through engraving, grazing or pressing the metal surface.

History of tile (glazed brick), manufacture and decoration in Iran, goes back to the prehistoric period. It has an important position among the various decorative arts in Iranian architecture. Four main decorative features could be categorized here. They are stone carvings, brick work, stucco and tile panels. The intricate method of manufacture, designs and type of materials used in these four methods have evolved as a result of natural factors, economical and political effects.Tiles were used to decorate monuments from early ages in Iran. Mosaic patterns were the first step in the evolution of tile decoration. Imaginative and creative artisans put together mosaic patterns using bits of colored stone and brick and created patterns of triangles, semi-circles and circles in harmony with the structures they were placed on. These patterns later evolved into design of natural subjects, such as plants, trees, animals and human beings. The earliest examples of mosaic patterns have come from the columns of the temple at Ubaid in Mesopotamia, and are attributed to the second half of the 2nd mill. B.C. Here, colored pieces of stone have been juxtaposed with shell and ivory to create geometric patterns. It is these early mosaic patterns which are the roots of later tile art. The first glazed bricks, a further advancement in tile art, have also been discovered in such sites as the palaces of Ashur and Babylon in the same area. A most famous example of early tile art on wares is the mosaic rhyton discovered in the excavations at Marlik. This vessel has two shells. The outer shell is covered with colored pieces of stone. This object is known as “Thousand Flowers”. One of the earliest examples of Iranian tile work on architecture, actually glazed pieces of unbaked brick, have been excavated at Susa and Chogha Zanbil, and are attributed to the end of the second millennium B.C.In the Achamenian period full use was made of glazed and decorated fired bricks in yellow, green and brown on the palaces of Susa and Persepolis. Fired and glazed bricks were an Important advancement in tile technique.

The “Eternal Soldiers” at Persepolis have long elegant gowns in glaze made of fired earth and plaster.Glaze was used on vessels and even coffins in the Parthian period, but little architectural evidence has been discovered to show that glazed bricks were used. Turquoise and light green glaze were the most popular colors. Fresco painting was more popular for the decoration of buildings.Excavations in Firuzabad and Bishapur have yielded much evidence of tile art and mosaic manufacture for the Sasanid period. Here, tiles have glaze that is one centimeter thick, and mosaic patterns of flowers, plants, geometric designs birds and human beings.The art of tile working blossomed in the Islamic period of Iran. It became the most important decorative feature of religious buildings.Iranian tile makers were in great demand and worked in the far corners of the Islamic empire. The earliest example of Islamic tile decoration can be seen on the Mosque of the Dome of Rock belonging to 7-8th century A.D.Before tile work, as we know today, became popular brick and stucco were most important in decoration of buildings up to 10-11th A.D. Two mosques of Na’in and Neiriz have brick decoration in geometric patterns of the Buyid period. By 11-12th A.D. , brick decoration had spread from the east throughout Iran. The best examples of brick decoration of this period are the mausoleums of Pir Alamadar, 1026 A.D., Chehel Dokhtaran, 466 A.D., and the Tower of Mihmandost 1096 A.D.

The next stage of development was the use of colored glaze on decorative brick; turquoise being the most popular color. Pieces of turquoise glazed bricks were used with decorative brick works on monuments from the Saljuq period onwards.
So artisans were familiar with the technique of manufacture of glazed bricks by this time. Sometimes these turquoise glazed bricks were used to create Kufic inscription among the brick patterns or were scattered among the brick patterns. The earliest example unfired turquoise Kufic inscription, is a panel stored at Iran Bastan Museum (National Museum of Iran) ascribed to the end of the 10-11th A.D. Other religious structures which have turquoise tile works are Seyed Mosque, Isfahan, 1122 A.D., the red Dome of Maraqeh 1147 A.D. and the Jame Mosque of Gonabad 1212 A.D.
Mongol invasion slowed and halted many artistic traditions and trends. Normal conditions only returned by the 13th century A.D., when the Ilkhanid rulers accepted Islam; they also became interested in creating secular and non-secular monuments and buildings. By this time, decorative bricks and tiles were used not only on the exterior, but also inside the building to cover the walls and domes.

The art of tile manufacture reached its highest point of perfection and beauty at the end of Ilkhanid period and the beginning of Timurid in the form of Moraq tiles (mosaic style). Tile panels created with this technique are very durable and could withstand the elements of time. Here, tiles in such colors as yellow, blue, brown, black, turquoise, green and white were cut and carved into small pieces according to a previously prepared pattern. These pieces were placed close together and liquid plaster poured over to fill in all the opening and gaps. After the plaster dried and hardened, a large single piece tile panel had been created , which was then plastered onto the required wall of the building. Timurid monuments in Herat, Samarkend and Bukhara were covered by this decorative technique. Among the most famous monuments so decorated are Goharshad Mosque (1418 AD.), Molana Mosque (1444 AD.), Jame Mosque of Yazd (1456 AD.), Jame Mosque of Varamin (1322 AD.) and Madrassa of Khan in Shiraz (1615 AD.)
From the beginning of Safavid period, another method of tile decoration was added to the repertoire of artisans. Economical and political reasons prompted the creation of this “Seven Colors” (Haft Rang) tile to decorate many religious and non-secular buildings, which were made in great numbers in this period. Reasons which caused the popularity of this technique were:1- “Seven Colors” tiles were cheaper to produce.2- Less time was needed for their manufacture.3- Artisans could extend their repertoire of motives and designs for decoration.

Square tiles were placed together and necessary design was painted in glazed colors on them. Each tile was fired. Then all were placed again next to each other to create the main large pattern. Arabesque motives were extremely popular. This method of tile decoration was popular until the end of Qajar period, when the repertoire of colors extended to include yellow and bright orange.
Another important type of tile decoration at this time was luster tile. It was in demand by the end of Saljuq period and reached to its highest point of perfection in Kharazmshah and Ilkhanid eras.
Luster tile panels were made in square, rectangle, hexagon, octagon and polygonal forms. They contained luster designs of human, animals, floral and geometrical motives with borders of inscriptions, which included poems, proverbs and sayings attributed to Prophet and other religious personalities. Many of those tiles were discovered in the excavation at “Takht Soleiman”, especially from the palace of Abagh Khan (Ilkhanid period) and in Gorgan, Kashan and Khorasan regions.
Exquisite luster mihrabs appeared in 13th AD. Workshops of such cities as Gorgan, Soltanieh, Saveh and Kashan specialized in creation of these pieces. Shiraz, Kerman and Meshed became important luster tile producing centers during 17th AD. centuries. In Meshed, Mosque of Imam Reza (1215 AD.) has fine luster decorated tiles.Another popular technique was brick and tile decoration, a technique which had evolved from earlier decorative combinations of tile and brick; though, polychrome tiles were used instead of monochrome ones. This type of decoration was used in religious and non-religious buildings from 13th AD. onwards. Jame Mosque of Varamin (1322 AD.) , Soltanieh Dome (1304-1311 AD.), Jame Mosque of Ashtarjan (1315 AD.) and Vakil Mosque (1773 AD.) contain fine examples of this type of tile decoration.
Variety of design of this technique included large inscriptions known as “Moqili”, seen mostly in religious buildings such as Jame Mosque of Isfahan (14th AD.) and Hakim Mosque of Isfahan (1656 AD.)

Evidence of brick work, stucco carving and tile panels from the last 14 centuries have provided much evidence of creative and imaginative nature of Persian Artisans. They placed their art in the service of religious architecture. This religious inspiration found its highest expression in ornate inscriptions, which decorated so many works during these centuries.
In 8-10th centuries AD., most of these inscriptions included sayings, proverbs, wishes, maxims, names of religious personalities and invocations of Allah’s help, in decorative, simple or broken Kufic script and are found on poetry, such as ceramic wares of Neishabour.
In 13-14th centuries AD., ceramic wares and tiles were decorated with many different forms of inscriptions. The most popular were molded decorations and inscriptions with messages of happiness, good health, prayers, wish for victory, proverbs, simple messages of good will, poems and the name of Allah. Workshops at Kashan, Rey and Gorgan produced these types of ware.

Broken Taliq script became popular in 11-14th centuries AD. This script was in luster and under-glaze decoration, contained lines from poems and verses of such poets as Ferdowsi, Hafiz, Molana and Baba Afzali Kashani. Furthermore, it became popular for artisans of Kharazmshah and Ilkhanid periods to add the date of manufacture and the name of maker. The oldest dated tile is of 1203 AD. Tile panels of these period had mostly square, lotus, star and polygonal form and were put together to create panels.
In Safavid era, Naskh and Thulth scripts were used. Works of famous calligraphers, such as Alireza Abbasi, Mohammad Saleh Isfahani, Mohammad Reza Imami and Hossein Banna have been found.
It should be mentioned that the technique of tile and its secrets of trade were safely guarded and orally handed from father to son and master to student; thus rarely have designs, patterns and details of technique been documented and few complete treatises exist on the art of Iranian tile work in the past

The art of Minakari or Enamelling is called miniature of fire as well as the decoration of metal and tile with mina glaze. Minakari or Enamelling is the art of painting, colouring and ornamenting the surface of metals by fusing over it brilliant colours that are decorated in an intricate design.
Mina is the feminine form of Minoo in Persian, meaning heaven. Mina refers to the Azure colour of heaven. The Iranian craftsmen of Sasanied era invented this art and Mongols spreaded it to India and other countries. French tourist, Jean Chardin, who toured Iran during the Safavid rule, made a reference to an enamel work of Isfahan, which comprised a pattern of birds and animals on a floral background in light blue, green, yellow and red.

Some experts link the historicity of enameling in Iran to the Arsacides and Sassanid periods. However, the use of this art in the Islamic period is not clear before the reign of the seventh ruler of Mongol empire’s Ilkhanid division in Iran, Ghazan Khan (694-703 AH) who introduced Mongol Persia to Islam.
Ghazan Khan acquired the science of chemistry in a short period and preferred to use his knowledge and endeavors for the art of enameling.

Fine silver is used in almost all enameling because the enamel (glass) melts and sticks best to a pure metal. In simple words, enameling is the process of making metal models (fine silver usually) and then melting various colors and types of glass on to the model to create an objet d’art.
In a more scientific approach, enamel (or vitreous enamel or porcelain enamel in US English) is defined as the colorful result of fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 degrees Celsius.The powder melts, flows and hardens to a smooth, durable vitreous coating on metal, glass or ceramic. According to some sources, the word enamel comes from the High German word smelzan (to smelt) via the Old French esmail. Used as a noun, an enamel work is a usually small decorative object, coated with enamel coating, such as a champlevz or a cloisonnz.

The paintings or patterns used for enamel works in Iran are traditional designs depending on the taste and preferences of the artist. In the Iranian version of enameling, copper and silver are the most dominant metals used. There are also special tools used in this ancient artistic endeavor such as furnace, pliers, press machine, brush and so on.Enamel is usually used to embellish vase, jewelry and candleholder in addition to doors and chandeliers of holy shrines. Isfahan is the most important Iranian enameling hub. Enamel works can be washed with lukewarm water, soap and even ordinary detergents.
Gold has been used traditionally for minakari jewellery as it holds the enamel better, lasts longer and its lustre brings out the colours of the enamels. Silver, a later introduction, is used for artefacts like boxes, bowls, spoons, and art pieces while Copper which is used for handicraft products were introduced only after the Gold Control Act, which compelled the minakars to look for a material other than gold, was enforced around the world.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
Enamel working and decorating metals with colorful and baked coats is one of the distinguished courses of art in Isfahan. Mina, is defined as some sort of glasslike colored coat which can be stabilized by heat on different metals particularly copper. Although this course is of abundant use industrially for producing metal and hygienic dishes, it has been paid high attention by painters, goldsmiths and metal engravers since long times ago. In the world, it is categorized into three kinds as below:1- painting enamel2- Charkhaneh or chess like enamel3- Cavity enamel

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
What of more availability in Isfahan is the painting enamel of which a few have remained in the museums of Iran and abroad indicting that Iranian artists have been interested in this art and used it in their metal works since the Achaemenian and the Sassanid dynasties. The enamels being so delicate, we do not have many of them left from the ancient times. Some documents indicate that throughout the Islamic civilization of and during the Seljuk, Safavid and Zand dynasties there have been outstanding enameled dishes and materials. Most of the enameled dishes related to the past belong to the Qajar dynasty between the years 1810–1890 AD. There have also remained some earrings. Bangles, boxes, water pipe heads, vases, and golden dishes with beautiful paintings in blue and green colors from that time, Afterwards, fifty years of stagnation caused by the World War I and the social revolution followed. However, again the enamel red color, having been prepared, this art was fostered from the quantity and quality points of view through the attempts bestowed by Ostad Shokrollah Sani’e zadeh, the outstanding painter of Isfahan in 1935 and up to then for forty years.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
The technique of this art entails perseverance and deliberation. In Minakari an ornament is crafted in silver and then the artist draws the desired design. It is then outlined by the engraver to make the enamel adhere firmly to the metal. Enameller then brushes the ornament on the engraved design with special colors called Mina in red, green, black, yellow, blue etc A single piece of Mina pass through many bands before it reaches completion.
The intricate geometric design pattern of Minakari symbolizes various elements of a belief structure that has been evolved since the dominance of Mithraism era in the Iranian plateu. Here the center medallion symbolizes Mithra, the sun.
Now after a few years of stagnation since 1992, this art has started to continue its briskness having a lot of distinguished artists working in this field. To prepare an enameled dish we should make the following steps:
The process of making Minakari is not very complicated. First, a metallic substrate like copper, silver or brass is chosen and shaped by expert coppersmith. This layer is the base of enamel. In the past, the enamel had been

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
applied to tile, ceramic or glass, but nowadays copper is more often used because it is malleable and flexible. A new and firsthand copper layer is better than a recycled one.Then, the body is covered with a white glaze using the dipping technique. Next, it is heated at a maximum temperature of 750°C and the body is recoated with a higher quality glaze and heated again.
This function is usually repeated three to four times. Generally, the enamel glaze is made of silicon, magnesium, potassium, lead, precious stones, feldspar, kaolin, zirconium, boric acid and tin.The glazed and heated metal body is now ready for any kind of design, which depends on the creativity of the artist. This step is called painting with magic colors.

After the painting is complete, the enamel plates are sent back to the furnace, but this time temperature is about 600oC. This brings out the final colors. In the past, inorganic dyes were used in this art, but at present chemical colors are used as well.The criteria, which could affect the quality of enamel, are selection of an appropriate metal, decoration, standard heating and finally, elegance and accuracy of artist.Things that can damage Minakari include damage of the edges of the body caused by mechanical impacts or lack of appropriate heating in furnace, faults in metal base (such as having a streak in the metal layer) or a lack of strong junction between different layers.Different kinds of local symmetrical patterns are used in Minakari paintings, such as ‘eslimi’, which is one of the well-known Islamic patterns also used in traditional architecture, painting with one color as the background and then using bright golden colors on it, using a very fine pen to make miniature patterns and then beautifying the background with green, blue or brown color, or designing on a colorful heated body by using the golden Mina color.The beauty of the work depends on the period of heating and the artist’s precision. The final calligraphy is designed on the body before stabilizing the Mina by heating in the furnace.The biggest risk to the enamel is separation of the decorated surface because of a mechanical impact. Hence, care should be taken while transporting the work. If a part of enamel is separated, it should be repaired immediately otherwise it can cause other parts to separate.The enamel can be washed with a sponge and warm water, and this does not cause any problem, because the enamel is covered with a transparent glaze. Iranians are well known for producing Minakari of the highest beauty.The greatest master of enameling of Isfahan is Shokrollah Sanizadeh, whose ancestor was a renowned painter. One of the invaluable works of this master was used for printing a stamp for commemorating Iranian handicrafts in 2008-9 and registered as national heritage. The original objet d’art is being kept at the Museum of Traditional Arts and Handicrafts.Among the distinguished students of Sanizadeh, one could refer to Gholamhossein Feizollahi, who is dexterous in designing beautiful patterns.There are quite a few artists in Isfahan who produce enamels that are very exquisite. There is great demand for these works, because of its artistic value and relatively low price. These artists present their works in Chahar-Bagh Street and the vicinity of Naqsh-e Jahan Square.

Introductory survey of Persian carpet
The history of Persian carpet manufacture is fraught with unproved hypotheses, rash assumptions, and confident assertions that flout historical evidence. Indeed, scholars hold widely differing opinions on almost every aspect of the production of Persian carpets. As Edward Gibbon said in another connection, “the melancholy duty is imposed upon the historian” of trying to determine what facts are beyond dispute.They are few.

A Persian carpet shop in Isfahan

The discovery of the Pazyryk carpet and an even earlier fragment in tombs in Siberia revealed that the manufacture of knotted-pile carpets is of far greater antiquity than had previously been supposed.The oldest previously known pile carpets were manufactured in Anatolia in the 7-8th/13-14th centuries .With the exception of several fragments from Sasanian levels at Shahr-e Qumis and possibly of a fragmentary lion carpet recently purchased by the De Young Museum in San Francisco no Persian pile carpet can definitely be said to survive from before the 10th/16th century . There is literary evidence for the existence of carpets in western Asia from pre-Islamic times , but it is impossible to say whether or not they were knotted. The famous jeweled garden carpet of Ḵosrow I at Ctesiphon was almost certainly not a pile carpet but a flat weave or an embroidery ; a pile carpet of the size described ( 27 m square) would probably have weighed more than two tons .

According to Kurt Erdmann, Oriental carpets were not regularly imported into Europe before the end of the 7th/13th century . At about that time European artists began to depict such carpets in their paintings; Giotto seems to have been the first .Most of the carpets depicted are thought to be Turkish, however, not Persian; it was generally quicker, easier, and cheaper to import carpets into western Europe from Anatolia than from Persia as, especially during the Safavid period, the Ottoman empire, which controlled the traditional overland routes from Persia to the west, was periodically at war with the Persian state. Carpets of presumed Persian design are nevertheless to be found in the paintings of Mantegna (1435-1506), Van Dyck (1599-1641), and Rubens (1577-1640); in fact, in the 17th century some seventy Dutch artists included representations of Persian carpets in their paintings, mainly types originating in northwestern Persia . Oriental carpets and rugs purchased by Europeans were, of course, often too valuable to be laid on the floor, as had been the practice in the Orient since earliest times. Terms used in Venetian inventories indicate that Oriental rugs were placed on tables (tapedi da desco; tapedi da tavola) and on chests that also served as seats , and European paintings confirm such uses.

Beginning with the Safavid period large quantities of pile carpets survive, but the dating and attribution of these and later examples to particular weaving centers are pitfalls for the unwary . Some general observations are relevant, however. First, of an estimated total of between 1,500 and 2,000 surviving Safavid carpets only five are dated .The number is greater from the Qajar and Pahlavi periods , yet, even when a carpet is dated, careful examination is necessary to ensure that the date has not been tampered with . Carpet inscriptions can nevertheless provide invaluable information on craftsmen, places of manufacture, patrons, and so on; furthermore, once a particular carpet has been firmly fixed in time and place, it can be used to identify other structurally related pieces . Arthur Upham Pope pointed out that parallel designs can frequently also be found in architectural decoration, which can be useful in dating and localizing carpets .

The attribution of a carpet made before the late 13th/19th century to a particular place of manufacture is even more hazardous than dating. Friedrich Spuhler declares bluntly that assumptions about the origins of Safavid carpets “which have gained credence over the years are purely hypothetical” , and E. Gans- Ruedin concurs: “Too few written sources are at our disposal today to enable light to be thrown upon the making of any given carpet. For this reason, the method of attribution to a specific production center, used for more than half a century, with a few exceptions, is unreliable. Perhaps the time will come when documents will come to light which will allow us to ascertain the exact provenance of some rugs from the 16th and 17th centuries. Meanwhile, it is possible to formulate hypotheses only” . In the few instances in which a master craftsman has woven his name into the carpet, it would be rash to assume that his nesba (attributive name) indicates the place where the carpet was manufactured. Yet only recently have scholars become more conservative about attributing specific carpets to specific manufacturing centers .
On the other hand, the location of the principal centers of carpet production during the Safavid period and later is generally known from contemporary texts and travelers’ reports, even though it is usually not possible to associate particular carpets with them. It seems generally accepted that it was the Safavids who raised the status of carpet weaving in Persia from a nomadic and rural craft to a national industry, the products of which constituted a significant item of export to India, the East Indies, the Ottoman empire, and Europe. Nor is there much doubt that it was the Safavids who established the first independent carpet factories in some of Persia’s major urban centers .

It is not reasonable, however, to postulate that the Safavid carpet masterpieces came into being ex nihilo. Spuhler raises the pertinent question of why no definitely Timurid carpets, or even carpet fragments, are extant . He points out that the Milan hunting carpet, possibly dated only a few years after the Uzbeks had brought Timurid rule to an end in Transoxania and Khorasan , is in excellent condition and speculates that perhaps some “early Safavid” carpets are really “late Timurid” carpets. Although Spuhler’s hypothesis cannot be proved, the current consensus is that Erdmann went too far in claiming that Safavid carpets represent a complete break from previous knotted pile carpets . Beattie has found design elements on floor coverings depicted in miniature paintings of the 9th/15th century and earlier that portend those of Safavid carpets, including hints of Chinese influence . Leonard Helfgott’s verdict is “Whether or not a transitional period in carpet production preceded this fusion [of carpet-weaving skills with designs from the arts of the book, ceramics, and textiles], or whether this fusion began in a primitive state as a result of contacts with urban culture, or existed as a tendency or undercurrent as a result of Chinese influence, is impossible to determine at this time”
It is possible that Tabrīz was the principal center of carpet production during the early 10th/16th century, for Shah Esmāʿīl I (907-30/1501-24) was initially master only of Azerbaijan; it required ten years of hard fighting to bring the rest of Persia and Mesopotamia under Safavid control. The process was completed only with the capture of Herat in 916/1510.There is no agreement among scholars, however, as to whether or not Esmāʿīl or his successor, Shah Ṭahmāsb (930-84/1524-76), established a carpet factory at Tabrīz, the first capital of the Safavid state. Esmāʿīl is known to have assembled there an array of men skilled in the arts of the book: calligraphers, illuminators, and miniature painters. A major category of Safavid carpets is that known as “medallion” carpets (naqs-etoronj, toronj-dār;), for which, according to Pope, the “most immediate and exact models . . . are to be found in book covers . . .” Both bookbindings and carpets were frequently designed by the illuminators of manuscripts . But did Esmāʿīl establish a carpet factory at Tabriz? Edwards thought that the shah’s military preoccupations precluded such a move, though he admitted the possibility that Ṭahmasb might have done so . Maurice Dimand, on the other hand, categorically states, on stylistic grounds, that “All these early medallion rugs may be assigned to northwest Persia, particularly to Tabriz, the Safavids’ main artistic center” . He also assigned the Milan hunting carpet and the “Emperor’s carpet” in Vienna (and its companion piece, now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; ) to Tabrīz in the period of Shah Esmāʿīl . Ṭahmasb, is known to have been personally interested in the technicalities of carpet production, for example, details of dyeing, design, and weaving, and is personally credited with having created some carpet designs . Furthermore, Dimand claimed that the Ardabīl carpets, which were woven during his reign, must have come from a Tabrīz workshop There is thus a strong possibility that there was a carpet factory at Tabriz, but, if so, production must have been interrupted by the Ottoman invasions of Azerbaijan and brief occupations of Tabrīz in 940/1533-34, 941/1534-35, and 955/1548 .
In 955/1548 Ṭahmāsb relocated the Safavid capital from Tabriz to Qazvīn, and presumably the production of carpets under royal patronage was also moved. The Safavid court remained at Qazvīn for fifty years until it was transferred to Isfahan by Shah ʿAbbās I in 1006-07/1598. N. Aram-Zanganeh claims that the royal workshops were moved from Tabrīz to Qazvin to Isfahan as each city successively became the capital, which is what would be expected, but Erdmann noted that “the manufacture of carpets at Qazvīṇ . . . cannot be authenticated” . The Hungarian ambassador to the court of the Ottoman sultan Solayman reported the arrival in 975/1567 of gifts from Shah Ṭahmāsb, which included carpets made in Hamadān and Dargazīn; no mention was made of carpets from Qazvīn . The Spanish traveler Father Florencio del Niño Jesús reported that in the early 11th/17th century there was an abundance of silk and brocade carpets at Qazvin .

On the basis of textual sources and travelers’ reports most authorities seem to agree that there were royal Safavid carpet workshops at Isfahan, Kāšān, and Kermān .On the basis of Jean Chardin’s report of thirty-two royal workshops (boyūtāt-e ḵaṣṣa-yesarifa, boyutat-e salṭanatī) employing an average of 150 craftsmen each, the total number employed in such workshops has been estimated at approximately 5,000 .Of course, members of many different crafts and trades were employed in these workshops, and the number of weavers may have been quite small. The workshops not only produced luxury carpets for the Safavid shahs’ mosques and palaces, for gifts to neighboring rulers like the Ottoman sultan, and for the export trade; they also fulfilled commissions from members of the nobility and other private citizens. In at least one instance toward the end of the 11th/17th century the court seems to have contracted out the production of carpets and other textiles to specialized craft guilds, a process known as taḥwīl-eaṣnāf. The shah or another client put up the capital in the form of raw materials and paid weavers regular wages while work was in progress. Sometimes the malek al-tojjār (state supervisor of textile guilds) played this role

At Isfahan the royal carpet workshops were located between the Cehel Sotūn and the Meydān-e Šāh . Father Tadeusz Krusiński, who was in Persia in 1116-42/1704-29, reported that rugs were made there for the royal Court ,Tavernier had observed the same in the late 11th/17th century .According to Florencio, Shah ʿAbbās I, like his grandfather Ṭahmasb, was personally interested in the carpet industry and was himself skilled in carpet weaving , and it would therefore be expected that the volume of carpets produced under royal patronage in Shah ʿAbbās’ reign would at least equal that produced under royal patronage during the reign of Shah Ṭahmāsb. Yet few major authorities are prepared to attribute to Isfahan the manufacture of even such a major category as the “vase carpets” (ṭarḥ-e goldani, goldan-dar;).
Father Krusiński also mentioned Kasan as one of the cities in which royal carpet workshops had been established by Shah ʿAbbas. In 1601 Sigismund III Vasa, king of Poland, sent his purveyor Sefer Muratowicz there with instructions to order several rugs for the king and to superintend their weaving personally (for extracts from Muratowicz’s own report of his journey, see Mańkowski, ). At about the same time several Spanish Carmelites described Kāšān as a center of fine weaving of carpets in silk and gold .Kermān was another city of royal workshops, according to Father Krusiński . Engelbert Kaempfer saw woolen carpets with animal designs from there in the royal palace in 1095/1684.
There was a flourishing export trade in carpets to Europe (sometimes via the Portuguese colony of Goa) and to the Mughal empire, where Safavid exports stimulated the local carpet industry; in effect, some Mughal products were almost “indistinguishable from Safavid carpets”. Some Safavid carpets were regularly shipped by the Dutch East India Company to Batavia, Ceylon, Malaysia, the Coromandel coast, Bengal, and Cochin, as well as to the Netherlands itself . Apart from luxury carpets, which in London might cost as much as 100 pounds sterling for a pair, smaller carpets, in the 7-15 pounds sterling range, were sold there in 1685 and 1688 . In general, however, trade between Persia and the Indies was more reliable and more profitable than trade between Persia and Europe; Persian exports could be shipped to Europe via the overland route through Ottoman territory but only when the Ottomans and the Safavids were not at war. Safavid foreign trade was almost exclusively in the hands of Armenians, who had established businesses in Livorno, Venice, and Amsterdam. The commercial and financial expertise of the Armenians and their European contacts was essential to Shah ʿAbbās’s policy of expanding overseas trade.

Although the Safavids thus transformed a simple rural craft into a courtly art , carpets did continue to be produced by nomadic tribes and in smaller urban workshops. This production continued after the overthrow of the Safavids by the Afghans in 1135/1722 and the consequent decline of the luxury carpet industry, which had depended in large part on royal patronage. Nevertheless, there is some evidence that both Nāder Shah and Karīm Khan Zand commissioned carpets in southern Persia . The breakdown of social and political institutions resulting from a half century of civil war between the Zand and the Qajars also affected the functioning of the economy. Law and order, especially security on the roads, which had played such an important part in encouraging the movement of commercial caravans in the time of Shah ʿAbbās I, could no longer be maintained. With the establishment of the Qajar dynasty in 1212/1797, the carpet industry began to flourish once more, largely owing to local financing and domestic market demand . By the middle of the 13th/19th century carpets of fine quality were being manufactured in a number of centers, as well as by several nomadic groups . The number of Persian carpets exported, however, remained small; it may have been the fortuitous conjunction of two factors, Persia’s need for an export commodity to substitute for silk and strong European demand, that produced a boom in Persian carpets at the end of the 13th/19th century.
Between 1281/1864 and 1284/1867 the silk-worm disease pébrine reached Persia from Europe and caused a drastic slump in Persian exports of raw silk . According to the British consul in Tabrīz in 1289/1872 “the trade of Persia fell to the lowest point since commerce first seriously attracted the attention of foreign merchants.” Many Persian firms were bankrupted.The subsequent sudden rise in European demand was stimulated particularly by the Vienna Exhibition of 1873, where carpets from Khorasan, Farāhān, Senna (Sanandaj), and other cities were exhibited .Furthermore, the rise of the middle class in Britain and elsewhere increased the size of the potential market.
In 1294/1877 the Manchester firm Messrs. Ziegler and Co., which had been importing silk through its agents in Tabrīz, Isfahan, and Tehran, opened a new branch in Solṭānābād (Arāk) for the manufacture of carpets, which soon became “the centre of the carpet trade in Western Persia” .A rival British firm, Hotz and Co., also established a carpet factory there, and by 1296/1879 the carpet boom was well under way. At the same time an agent of the Paris department store Maison du Louvre was making annual visits to Persia for the purpose of buying carpets, and Persia was also beginning to export to the United States .
By 1310/1892, according to Lord Curzon , Persian carpets had “attained so wide a celebrity that the upper-class householder in England or America is rare who does not think the acquisition of such an article, whether genuine or spurious, an indispensable testimony both to culture and to civilisation.” Carpets of good quality were manufactured in the districts of Qaʾen and Bīrjand and Qohestān; at Saraḵs in Khorasan; in the districts of Qaradag and Farāhān in Azerbaijan; in Kurdistan; and in Fārs, where carpets were made at Shiraz and tribal rugs woven by the QasqaʾI . The boom in carpet production was particularly noticeable at Kermān . Whereas “in 1871 there were only six carpet-weaving establishments in the city, and fewer than thirty looms”—there were

probably no more than one hundred looms operative in the whole country at that time —“by 1900 Sykes found over one thousand looms in Kirman City alone, each supervised by a master weaver” . Unfortunately, in an effort to keep up with European demand, Persian carpet manufacturers made the nearly fatal mistake of introducing the use of chemical dyes , and, though the Persian government banned their use in 1304/1877, they continued to be smuggled in, to the detriment of the industry . The late Qajar period was thus characterized, on one hand, by general deterioration in the quality of carpets, resulting from the use of aniline dyes and from hasty production methods introduced by manufacturers eager to meet the demand of foreign markets, and, on the other, by production of sumptuous silk carpets, the like of which had not been seen since the 11th/17th century . High-quality carpets were frequently commissioned by members of the Qajar nobility and of the upper classes generally . Even in the last quarter of the 13th/19th century, however, Safavid carpets still had an overwhelming impact on those who saw them for the first time. William Morris, writing to a friend in 1877, reported: “I saw yesterday a piece of ancient Persian, time of Shah ʿAbbās . . . that fairly threw me on my back; I had no idea that such wonders could be done with carpets” .

The Persian carpet industry has had a checkered history since its resurgence in the last quarter of the 13th/19th century . Not surprisingly, the two world wars represented periods of decline. Persia, caught up in both conflicts by reason of its geopolitical situation, twice experienced loss of foreign markets and resulting severe impairment to domestic prosperity. Furthermore, prophets of doom confidently predicted that the introduction of machinery would put an end to the carpet industry . Nevertheless, by the mid-1920s Persians were again producing “sound and attractive carpets,” and, until the occupation by Allied forces in 1320 S./1941, “the standards of production were, on the whole, well maintained” . With the accession of Reżā Shah (1303 S./1924), royal patronage was resumed, and the industry once again produced carpets that could be compared, in beauty and delicacy of design and finesse of weave, to the finest productions of the 10-11th/16-17th centuries. Some of the carpets woven at the famous Amoḡlī factory in Mašhad actually surpassed the finest extant Safavid carpets in density of knotting. For example, two Mašhad carpets of 1309 Š./1930, with 906 knots to the square inch, and another of comparable quality made in 1314 s./1935 can be compared to a fine Safavid carpet, for years considered to have a silk pile because its knotting is so dense, which has only 822 knots to the square inch .
By 1327 S./1948, however, the Persian carpet industry was once more in a “hapless state” , and in the following year the government convened a conference in Tehran to draw up recommendations for dealing with the three principal evils that had beset the industry intermittently for the previous sixty years and more: the use of aniline and chrome dyes, a decline in the standard of design, and the use of the joftī knot, which produced a carpet inferior both in beauty and in durability .The remedial measures instituted by the government, together with growing consumer resistance to inferior carpets, once again led to a revival of the industry. Foreign demand for Persian carpets, especially in the United States, continued strong. After 1328 S./1949 there were periods of “intense” carpet production in Kerman, owing primarily to demand from the United States for the very thick rugs known in the market as “American Kirmans” . Royal patronage ensured that some carpets of exceptional technical quality were also produced. Gans-Ruedin mentions, for example, a 1349 S./1970 Isfahan carpet with 710 knots to the square inch, which may be compared with three famous 10th/16th-century carpets, those known as the Ardabīl carpets (400 knots per square inch; Plate CIX in ix, ) and the Milan hunting carpet (367 knots per square inch; Plate CVII in ix,). The establishment of the Carpet Museum in Tehran in the mid-1350s S./1970s contributed to the revival of public interest in this aspect of Persian culture.

Persian Miniature
A Persian miniature is a richly detailed miniature painting which depicts religious or mythological themes from the region of the Middle East now known as Iran. The art of miniature painting in Persia flourished from the 13th through the 16th centuries, and continues to this day, with several contemporary artists producing notable Persian miniatures. These delicate, lush paintings are typically visually stunning, with a level of detail which can only be achieved with a very fine hand and an extremely small brush.

Persian miniature is a small painting, whether a book illustration or a separate work of art intended to be kept in an album of such works. The techniques are broadly comparable to the Western and Byzantine traditions of miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, which probably had an influence on the origins of the Persian tradition.Although there is an equally well-established Persian tradition of wall painting, the survival rate and state of preservation of miniatures is better, and miniatures are much the best-known form of Persian painting in the West.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
Several features about Persian miniatures stand out. The first is the size and level of detail; many of these paintings are quite small, but they feature rich, complex scenes which can occupy a viewer for hours. Classically, a Persian miniature also features accents in gold and silver leaf, along with a very vivid array of colors. The perspective in a Persian miniature also tends to be very intriguing, with elements overlaid on each other in ways which sometimes feel awkward to people who are accustomed to the look and feel of Western art.Originally, Persian miniatures were commissioned as book illustrations for Persian illuminated manuscripts. Only the wealthiest of patrons could afford these illustrations, with some Persian miniatures taking up to a year to complete. Eventually, people also began collecting these works of art on their own, binding them into separate books. Many of these collections fortunately survive to this day, along with other examples of Persian art such as Iran’s famous pile carpets.

The Persian miniature was probably inspired by Chinese art, given the very Chinese themes which appear in some early examples of Persian miniatures. Many of the mythological creatures depicted in early Persian art, for example, bear a striking resemblance to animals in Chinese myth. Over time, however, Persian artists developed their own style and themes, and the concept of the Persian miniature was picked up by neighboring regions.
Many museums of Asian art have Persian miniatures in their collections, and it is well worth visiting to see examples of this distinctive art form in person. Persian miniatures also merit undivided attention; the longer one looks at a Persian miniature, the more details and themes emerge. The study of a single miniature can take up an entire day, as more and more details unfold, and many museums conveniently have detailed guides to the figures and themes in their Persian miniatures so that visitors can learn more about what they are seeing.Miniature painting became a significant Persian form in the 13th century, and the highest point in the tradition was reached in the 15th and 16th centuries. The tradition continued, under some Western influence. The Persian miniature was the dominant influence on other Islamic miniature traditions, principally the Ottoman miniature in Turkey, and the Mogul miniature in the Indian sub-continent.Though at various stages it has been affected by Chinese and Eastern influences, Persian miniature art has developed its own distinctive features. Iran’s miniature artists are recognizable for their emphasis on natural and realist motifs. Also worth noting is the Persian technique of “layering” perspectives to create a sense of space. For example, in the miniature piece at right, the variety of views is noticeable in the arrangement of objects: birds inhabit both the foreground and background of the piece, with the floral objects positioned in between. This gives the viewer a sense of three-dimensional space and the ability to focus on certain aspects of the piece to the exclusion of others.

Content and form are fundamental elements of Persian miniature painting, and miniature artists are renowned for their modest, subtle use of color. The themes of Persian miniature are mostly related to Persian mythology and poetry. Western artists discovered the Persian miniature around the beginning of the 20th century. Persian miniatures uses pure geometry and a vivid palette. The allure of Persian miniature painting lies in its absorbing complexities and in the surprising way it speaks to large questions about the nature of art and the perception of its masterpieces.
The history of the art of painting in Iran, goes back to the cave age. In the caves of Lorestan province, painted images of animals and hunting scenes have been discovered.Paintings discovered by W. Semner, on the walls of buildings, in Mallyan heights, in Fars, belong to 5,000 years ago.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]Paintings discovered on earthenware in Lorestan, and other archaeological sites, prove that the artists of this region were familiar with the art of painting. Also from the Ashkanid era, few mural paintings, most of them discovered in the northern parts of Forat River, have been uncovered. One of these paintings is a display of a hunting scene. The position of riders and animals, and the style in this work reminds us of the Iranian miniatures. In the paintings of Achaemenid era, profile work was preferred by the artists. The proportion and beauty of colors of this era are remarkable. The colors are shadeless, and have the same tune. In some cases, black stripes limited the colorful surfaces. The paintings of “Torfan”, discovered in the desert of “Gall”, a region situated in the Turkistan province in China, belong to 840 to 860 AD.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
These mural paintings exhibit Iranian scenes and portraits. Images of tree branches also exist in these paintings. The most ancient paintings of the Islamic period, are quite scarce, and were created in the first half of the 13th century.China, perhaps since the 7th century, as an artistic center, has been the most important incentive for the art of painting in Iran. Ever since, a relation has been established between Buddhist Chinese painters and, Iranian artists. From the historic viewpoint, the most important evolution in Iranian art has been the adoption of Chinese designs and coloring that were mixed with the specific conception of Iranian artists. In the first centuries, after the emergence of Islam, Iranian artists began adorning books.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
The preface and the margins of books were adorned. These designs were passed on to the next centuries, together with precise principles and rules, which is known as the “Art of Illumination.”Paintings from the beginning of the Islamic period had the reputation of belonging to Baghdad school.
Miniatures of Baghdad school have totally lost the style and methods of the usual paintings of the pre-Islamic period.
These primitive and innovative paintings do not possess the necessary artistic stress. The miniatures of Baghdad school are not proportional. Portraits show the “Sami” race and light colors are used. Artists of the Baghdad school, after years of stagnancy, were eager to create and innovate. The particular views of this school, is in drawing animals and illustrating stories.

Although the Baghdad school, considering the pre-Islamic art, is to some extent, superficial and primitive, but the art of Iranian miniature, in the same period, was widespread in every region in which, Islam was propagated: Far East, Africa and Europe.
Among illustrated books in the Baghdad style, “Kelileh and Demneh” can be named. Images are painted larger than normal and are not proportional. Only few colors are used in these paintings.
Most of the handwritten books of the 13th century are enriched with images of animals, vegetables, and illustrations from fables and stories.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
An example of the most ancient Iranian miniature is the drawings of a book called “Manafe-alHayvan” (1299 AD). This book describes the characteristics of animals. The natural history is mixed and narrated through the ancient fables in this book.
Diverse subjects of this book, require numerous images that are so important in familiarizing the reader with the Iranian art of painting. Colors are bright and laying step after the old style of the Baghdad school.
After the invasion of Moguls, a new school appeared in Iran. This school was totally under the influence of the Chinese and Mogul style. These paintings are all minute, dry, motionless, and pure, in the Chinese style.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]Mogul emperors, after the invasion of Iran, were impressed by the Iranian art and encouraged the painters, initiating the former kings of Iran. Among the characteristics of the Iranian art which can also be observed in the paintings of Mogul style, we can enumerate, subtleties, decorative compositions, and fine short lines. The style of the Iranian paintings is linear and not dimensional. Artists in this field have demonstrated a particular creativity and genuineness.Artists of the Mogul royal court honored not only the techniques but also Iranian themes. A part of their work consisted of illustrating Iranian literary masterpieces such as “The Shahnameh” of Ferdowsi.
Contrary to Baghdad and Mogul schools, more works remain from Harat school. The founders of the style of painting called the Harat school, were Teimoor’s ancestors, and the school was named after the place in which it was founded.
Art experts believe that during Teimoor’s era, the art of painting in Iran, had reached a climax. During this period, outstanding masters, such as Kamal-ul-Din Behzad, contributed a new touch to the Iranian painting.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
Kamal ud-Din Behzad Herawi, also known as Kamal al-din Bihzad or Kamaleddin Behzad (c. 1450 – c. 1535) was a painter of Persian miniatures and head of the royal ateliers in Herat and Tabriz during the late Timurid and early Safavid periods.
Behzad is the most famous of Persian miniature painters, though he is more accurately understood as the director of a workshop (or kitabkhana) producing manuscript illuminations in a style he conceived. Persian painting of the period frequently uses an arrangement of geometric architectural elements as the structural or compositional context in which the figures are arranged. Behzad is equally skilled with the organic areas of landscape, but where he uses the traditional geometric style Behzad stretches that compositional device in a couple ways. One is that he often uses open, unpatterned empty areas around which action moves. Also he pins his compositions to a mastery at moving the eye of the observer around the picture plane in a quirky organic flow. The gestures of figures and objects are not only uniquely natural, expressive and active, they are arranged to keep moving the eye throughout the picture plane. He uses value (dark-light contrast) more emphatically, and skillfully than other medieval miniaturists. Another quality common to his work is narrative playfulness: the almost hidden eye and partial face of Bahram as he peers out the blinds to watch the frolicing girls in the pool below, the upright goat that looks like a demon along the edge of the horizon in a story about an old woman confronting the sins of Sanjar, the amazing cosmopolitan variety of humans working on the wall in the sample image. This surprising individuality of character and narrative creativity are some qualities that distinguish Bezhad’s works and that match their literary intent. Behzad also uses Sufi symbolism and symbolic colour to convey meaning. He introduced greater naturalism to Persian painting, particularly in the depiction of more individualised figures and the use of realistic gestures and expressions.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Behzad’s most famous works include “The Seduction of Yusuf” from Sa’di’s Bustan of 1488, and paintings from the British Library’s Nizami manuscript of 1494-95 – particularly scenes from Layla and Majnun and the Haft Paykar. The attribution of specific paintings to Behzad himself is often problematic (and, many academics would now argue, unimportant), but the majority of works commonly attributed to him date from 1488 to 1495.
He is also mentioned in Orhan Pamuk’s famous novel “My Name is Red” as one of the greatest Persian miniature painters. In Pamuk’s novel it is said that Kamal al-Din Behzad blinded himself with a needle.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
Behzad was born, lived and worked in Herat (in present day Afghanistan) under the Timurids, and later in Tabriz under the Safavid dynasty. An orphan, he was raised by the prominent painter Mirak Naqqash, and was a protege of Mir Ali Shir Nava’i. His major patrons in Herat were the Timurid sultan Husayn Bayqarah (ruled 1469 – 1506) and other amirs in his circle. After the fall of the Timurids, he was employed by Shah Ismail I Safavi in Tabriz, where, as director of the royal atelier, he had a decisive impact on the development of later Safavid painting. Behzad died in 1535 and his tomb is located in Tabriz, 2-Kamal Tomb. A statue of Behzad is placed in 2-Kamal Tomb.
During the Safavid era, the artistic center was moved to Tabriz. A few artists also settled in Qazvin. However, the Safavid School of painting was established in Isfahan.
The miniature of Iran, in the Isfahan of Safavid era, was detached from the influence of the Chinese out and stepped on a new road. The painters were then more inclined towards naturalism.
Agha Reza Reza-e Abbasi (also Reza Abbasi) (1565 – 1635) was the most renowned Persian miniaturist, painter and calligrapher of the Isfahan School, which flourished during the Safavid period under the patronage of Shah Abbas I.
Reza Abbassi, founded the “Safavid School of painting”. The art of design during the Safavid era was subjected to a brilliant transformation.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
He is considered to be one of the foremost Persian artists of all time. He received his training in the atelier of his father, Ali Asghar, and was received into the workshop of Shah Abbas I at a young age.
At the age of about 38 he received the honorific title of Abbasi from his patron, but soon left the Shah’s employ, apparently seeking greater freedom to associate with simple people. In 1610 he returned to the court and continued in the employ of the Shah until his death. His specialty was the Persian miniature, with a preference for naturalistic subjects often portrayed in an effeminate and impressionistic manner, a style which came to be popular during the late Safavid court.
Many of his works depict handsome youths, often in the role of saqi, or “wine pourer,” who at times are the focus of the admiring gaze of an older man and according to Louis Crompton, a manifestation of the Persian tradition of “appreciating youthful male beauty” (2003, p.171).

Today his works can be found in the museum that bears his name in Tehran, as well as in many of the major museums of the West, such as the Smithsonian, the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Miniatures created under the Safavid School, were not exclusively aimed for adorning and illustrating books. The Safavid style is softer in form than those of the Teimoorian School, specially the Mongolian. Human images and their behavior are not vain and artificial, in the contrary quiet natural, and close to reality.In Safavid paintings, the splendor and the grandeur of this period is the main attraction. The themes of the paintings are about the life in the royal court, the nobles, beautiful palaces, pleasant goodness, scenes of battles and banquets.Humans are drawn in sumptuous garments, handsome faces and elegant statues colors are glowingly bright.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
Artists paid more attention to generalities and, avoided unnecessary details, as used in Harat and Tabriz styles. The smoothness of lines, the quick expression of feelings, and condensing the subjects are the characteristics of the Safavid style of painting. Since the end of the Safavid era, perspective and shading, a result of the European style, appeared in the Iranian paintings.Paintings of the Qajar era, are a combination of the classic European arts and Safavid miniature techniques. In this period, Mohammad Gaffari Kamal-ul-Molk, pushed forward the European classical style of painting in Iran. Under the qajars, a kind of painting known as the “Teahouse” painting found its place. This kind of painting is a new phenomenon in the history of the Iranian art.
The great Iranian master miniaturist, Hossein Behzad the son of pen-holder designer, Mirza Lotfollah Esfahani was born in Tehran in 1894. He was greatly interested in painting in his early childhood, and his father put him under the care of Molla Ali in Madjma-os-Sanayeh, the Art Center to gain miniature painting skills. Behzad once said; an unknown and obscure feeling, pulled me toward painting, and when I took pencil or pen following this feeling, I felt like a thirsty man who reaches a limpid and refreshing spring.
It was not long before his father and his trainer died by the attack of cholera. The hard and tragic period of the life of this sensitive and talented child started since this time.Now Hossein become the apprentice of Hossein Peikar-Negar who once was Molla Ali’s apprentice. Behzad worked for him for twelve years developing his experience while making a living. He finally left Peikar-Negar in the age of 18, and opened a work shop of his own at Haji- Rahim Khan Caraavansarai near Sabzeh Maidan.
At first Behzad followed the style of old masters like Kamaleddin Behzad and Reza Abbassi. His works was so skillfully that one could not tell the difference between his works and the old masters’. He got married to Azizeh Khanam in 1921, who gave birth to their only child, Parviz.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]
Behzad left for France in 1934, stayed in Paris for thirteen months during which he surveyed various Eastern and Western painting styles in Louvre, Guimet and Versailles museums. The result of this trip was the invention of a new style in miniature art by Behzad. He states about this travel as;
My talent budded and I become aware of my ability, my fingers attained new sensation and passion.
After his return from Paris, Behzad stopped imitating old masters works, while pursuing the miniature principles.
My study in various Iranian and foreign miniature styles aimed to create a new Iranian style conformed with the modern art. Miniature painting which had been turned to undesirable and unbecoming art, was gradually disappearing and I tried to bring a new style to save it from falling into oblivion.
On the occasion of the Avicenna millenium in 1953, an exhibition of Behzad’s works was held at the Iran Bastan Museum which drew attention of Orientalist guests from 64 countries. Turkish miniaturist and the professor of medicine. Solheil Anvar wrote in an article in Vatan newspaper published in Istanbul as;Behzad, this great artist belongs not only to Iran but also to the world. The French newspapers published many articles in praise of this Iranian artist.The Iran Bastan exhibition was a big start for Behzad to win the fame worldwide. Following it, an exhibition of his works was held in Modern Art Museum in Paris by the French government and several exhibitions in the Library of Congress of the United States was welcomed and praised by Americans.Behzad trained some trainees during his productive artistic life, one of the most famous is engineer Mohammad Naseripour, who was his accompany and now is a miniaturist pursuing Behzad’s style.
Mahmoud Farshchian (born January 24, 1930) is a world renowned master of Persian painting and miniatures. He was born in the city of Isfahan in Iran, a place famed for its art and artists, and it was here where he started to learn art, painting and sculpting.

His masterpieces have been hosted by several museums and exhibitions worldwide. He’s the most prominent modernizer of the field of miniatures, an art form which was first established in Ancient Persia and later spread to China and Turkey and other Middle eastern countries.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]

Mahmoud Fashchian

History Mahmoud Farshchian was born in the city of Isfahan on January 24, 1930. His father, a rug merchant, was an art aficionado who instilled a love for the arts in his son. Young Mahmoud showed an interest in arts quite early in life and studied under the tutelage of Haji Mirza-Agha Emami and Isa Bahadori for several years. After receiving his diploma from Isfahan’s high school for the fine arts, Farshchian left for Europe, where he studied the works of the great Western masters of Painting. Consequently, he developed an innovative artistic style with universal appeal.
Upon his return to Iran, he began to work at the National Institute of Fine Arts (which later became the Ministry of Art and Culture) and, in time, was appointed director of the Department of National Arts and professor at the university of Tehran’s School of Fine Arts. All the while, word of his exemplary works spread far and wide beyond national borders. He has been exhibited in 57 individual shows and 86 group shows in Iran, Europe, America and Asian countries. His works are represented in several museums and major collections worldwide. He has been awarded more than ten prizes by various art institutes and cultural centers. He has a doctorate (grade 1 in arts) in Iranian painting and Islamic arts from the High Council of Culture and Art.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]“The Museum of Master Mahmoud Farshchian“, is a museum devoted to the works of the master, which has been set up by the Cultural Heritage Foundation in the Sa’dabad Cultural Complex in Tehran, inaugurated in 2001.
The design of the Zarih (the box-like latticed enclosure which is placed on top of the tomb), roof, door and cellar in the shrine of the 8th shiite Imam, Ali ibn Mus’ar-Reza in Mashhad and his membership in the committee supervising the construction of the glorious shrine, is another artistic work of the master.
Master Farshchain currently resides in New Jersey. His son Alimorad Farshchian MD is a doctor of medicine who practices in the state of Florida.

[clear][divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″][clear]Farshchian is the founder of his own school in Iranian Painting, which adheres to classical form while making use of new techniques to broaden the scope of Iranian painting. He has brought new life to this art form and has freed it from the symbiotic relationship it has historically had with poetry and literature, to give it an independence it had not previously enjoyed. His powerful and innovative paintings are dynamic, expansive and vibrant canvases with an appealing fusion of the traditional and the modern, which are constitutes of his unique style of painting.
Master Farshchian has played a decisive role in introducing Iranian art to the international art scene. He has been invited to speak and exhibit at numerous universities and art institutes. There have been six books and countless articles published about Farshchian’s works.
Farshchian’s work “Shams and Rumi,” has been inspired by one of Rumi’s poems. Special colors have been used in the painting to feature the mystical and spiritual relationship that existed between Shams and Rumi. The painting took two months to complete in the U.S. and was unveiled at the Farshchian Art and Cultural Complex in Isfahan on August 2, 2007.

The Arabic script was adopted in Iran quite soon after the Islamic conquest of AD 642, largely because it was the official script of the new state into which Iran was incorporated.Calligraphy is the highest art form of the Islamic civilization, and like all forms of art that came into contact with Iran, it was enhanced and developed by the Persians. It was practised not only by professional calligraphers, but also by princes and nobles themselves. Calligraphers were an essential requirement for any self-respecting court, both to instruct the prince’s children in the principles of the art and to produce manuscripts for the royal library.Under the Timurids and the Safavids, calligraphy experienced perhaps its most brilliant development. In the late 14th century Umar Aqta “with amputated hand”, wrote a miniature Koran for Timur, which was so small that it could be fitted under the socket of a signet ring. When Timur disapproved of it because, according to a Prophetic tradition the Word of God should be written in big letters, the calligrapher produced another copy in which each was a cubit1 in length.The application of calligraphy to architectural surfaces also reached new heights during this period with entire surfaces of mosques covered with coloured tiles bearing decoration and magnificent calligraphic inscriptions. The Friday Mosque in Isfahan can be regarded as a model for every possible style of calligraphic decoration, beginning with the network of plaited Kufi in Oljeitu’s prayer niche which is crowned by highly involved thuluth on a floral background and culmulating in large panels of elegant thuluth inscriptions of the 17th century.By the 16th century, Shiraz was among the forerunners of calligraphy study and production in the Islamic world; followed by Isfahan.Persian calligraphers excelled in all styles of writing; the elegant large muhaqqaq, the finer rihani, and the heavy pliable thuluth script to name a few. The art of calligraphy was much more than simply noting down texts. The calligrapher’s pen, made from reed and according to strict rules was considered to be the ‘cypress in the garden of knowledge’.Calligraphy was regarded as an expression of man’s spiritual state; for ‘purity of writing proceeds from purity of heart’ (Sultan Ali Mashhadi); therefore the calligrapher had to undergo observances similar to those of the holy person.In the early centuries, the style of writing was quite uniform throughout the Moslem World.The Arabic script was derived from the Syriac and the Nabatean, which is characterised by a contrast between vertical lines and the horizontal based line formed by the links between the letters. The artistic potential of this system was exploited very early on, and a large range of different scripts have evolved over the centuries.

FAMOUS CALLIGRAPHERS IN SAFAVID PERIODALI REZA ABBASI
Ali Reza Abbasi (1565-1634) is one of the most prominent calligraphers of Safavid period. He was born in Kashan. As soon as he was a remarkable calligrapher he left Kashan to Isfahan . He was introduced to Shah Abbas the first’s court. Soon he was honored by title of “Abbasi”. He was employed by Shah’s court, but he left the court soon.In 1610 he came back to the court and worked there until his death. He died in 1634. He was a wonderful miniaturist too. A part of reception hall of the Ali Qapu palace was decorated with his beautiful unique miniatures on stucco work. A lot of his work can be seen in Iranian museums and important museums of the west such as Louver and Metropolitan museums.

MIR EMAD
Mir Emad (1556-1615) was one of the most celebrated Iranian calligraphers. Nostalgic calligraphy reached its Zenith by wonderful works of Mir Emad. He was born in Qazvin and he was educated there too.Mir Emad traveled to Tabriz in order to develop his knowledge and art. He studied with Mohammad Hossein Tabrizi. He was invited to the court of Shah Abbas 1. He tried to train his son and daughter as calligraphers, but his decedents did not reach as high as Mir Emad. A part of Sheick Lotfollah Mosque’s inscriptions was implemented by Mir Emad.There was a sever competition between Mir Emad and Ali Reza Abbasi. Ali Reza Abbasi, although he was a great artist and calligrapher but his hostility against Mir Emad consequenced to the execution of Mir Emad. In order to defame Mir Emad, he was accused of being Sunnite. Several people were executed by the order of Shah Abbas the first. His innocent son and Mir Emad were two of these unfortunate persons.